I mean really the only team this series helps is the Green Herd and it hurts WVU on 3 different poiints

1. Playing at Marshall small stadium loses WVU extra $$. The games should all be played at Morgentown simply because the bigger stadium.
2. WVU could have set up matchups with Pac 10,Big 12,SEC,ACC teams intead of playing Marshall

3. God forbid the unthinkable happens, WVU would really be upset then :shhh:

PusherT Wrote:I mean really the only team this series helps is the Green Herd and it hurts WVU on 3 different poiints

2. WVU could have set up matchups with Pac 10,Big 12,SEC,ACC teams intead of playing Marshall

Doesn't WVU have FOUR other non-conf games that they could set up more matchups with Pac-10, Big 12, SEC, or ACC Teams?

KL

PusherT Wrote:I mean really the only team this series helps is the Green Herd and it hurts WVU on 3 different poiints

1. Playing at Marshall small stadium loses WVU extra $$. The games should all be played at Morgentown simply because the bigger stadium.
2. WVU could have set up matchups with Pac 10,Big 12,SEC,ACC teams intead of playing Marshall

3. God forbid the unthinkable happens, WVU would really be upset then :shhh:

I think its good for the state of WVU that there two big state universities play each other in football. UK fans said the same thing when "they felt forced to play us". If WVU is the better team, then they will win regardless. Marshall "should" be a win under the belt for WVU. In my opinion it helps WVU out financially too, because Marshall would bring plenty of fans to Morgantown. To me personally its a win-win for both schools.

WVU and Marshall should play each other. Like KP said this reminds me too much of UK and Louisville. WVU should win 90% of the time if they are as good as they say and I think they are.

Maize Wrote:WVU and Marshall should play each other. Like KP said this reminds me too much of UK and Louisville. WVU should win 90% of the time if they are as good as they say and I think they are.

Exactly, they shouldn't have any problem handling the herd. Anytime you can get on national TV its always good. You can pound your rival in front of the nation and recruits get to see how good you look.

kardphan Wrote:

Maize Wrote:WVU and Marshall should play each other. Like KP said this reminds me too much of UK and Louisville. WVU should win 90% of the time if they are as good as they say and I think they are.

Exactly, they shouldn't have any problem handling the herd. Anytime you can get on national TV its always good. You can pound your rival in front of the nation and recruits get to see how good you look.

It has worked for us, that is why UK wants their game against us in Lexington on the 3rd weekend. They know it will be off ESPN and they get to enjoy their annual pounding away from the spotlight.

Quote:3. God forbid the unthinkable happens, WVU would really be upset then

-- Marshall will win a game or two in the current contract...they have a pretty good football program...a win this yr however will be hard to come by

Quote:said the same thing when "they felt forced to play us".

-- There is no "felt" in this sentance my friend....The current Gov in WV made it a part of his campaign that he would "encourage MU/WVU" to play....It was a way for him to get political support from the Huntington Area....The entire football contract was forced down WVUs throat by the politicans in Charleston...if WVU did not comply then the state was prepared to cut the University's budget (of course offically there would have been no corlation between the budget cut and WVU saying no to Marshall ;-) ).

Quote:You can pound your rival in front of the nation and recruits get to see how good you look.

-- Pitt is our rival...and we always enjoy pounding them on national TV...Marshall does not have a historical rival of any signficance which is why there fan base is so desperate to start the WVU series

-- Actually...One of the funny things about the state WV is that Marshall and WVU rarley recruit against each other.....the state produces so few football and bball players that there are no big time recuriting battles like in VA between Tech and UVA....When recruiting out of state...Marshall goes into Kentucky and southern Ohio....WVU goes into Western PA, Maryland/DC and nothern Ohio


Jackson

Yes, they should play. After ECU and NC State played in the 91 Peach bowl, the state legislature saw how many fans traveled to Atlanta to see the game, went back to Raleigh and signed a bill to have both UNC and NC State start scheduling ECU in football.

They said that because all 3 were state supported schools and state $$ was going to each school that the revenue support from these schools playing in state was a no brainer. Now ECU has one of those schools on it's schedule for a number of years.

Yes, both those schools fought hard not to have to schedule ECU and said it would do nothing for their schools. The game could only hurt their program. We've heard the same things from those two as Marshall will hear from some WVU fans. A game like that creates a lot of buzz across the state. It's good for the state and for college football.

kardphan Wrote:

PusherT Wrote:I mean really the only team this series helps is the Green Herd and it hurts WVU on 3 different poiints

1. Playing at Marshall small stadium loses WVU extra $$. The games should all be played at Morgentown simply because the bigger stadium.
2. WVU could have set up matchups with Pac 10,Big 12,SEC,ACC teams intead of playing Marshall

3. God forbid the unthinkable happens, WVU would really be upset then :shhh:

I think its good for the state of WVU that there two big state universities play each other in football. UK fans said the same thing when "they felt forced to play us". If WVU is the better team, then they will win regardless. Marshall "should" be a win under the belt for WVU. In my opinion it helps WVU out financially too, because Marshall would bring plenty of fans to Morgantown. To me personally its a win-win for both schools.

Terrible analogy; heres why: UK and Louisville came to terms without the intervention of the state government and without threat. In fact that was never an issue so it really has zero relation to this topic. Louisville never cried to anyone to get the series started and counted on the merits of its football program as bargining chips. Remember our agreement? Louisville agreed to play EVERY GAME IN LEXINGTON until Louisville built a new stadium, which it did. Curry and Schnelly built the game with the blessing of AD's Newton and Olsen. No one forced anyone to do anything with the UK UL series. Keep in mind that UK's football attendance completely sucked prior to the UK/UL series. Its been of great benefit to both programs.

Basketball on the other hand had some bad feelings. It was the late seventies and the racial undertones were deafening after we thrashed them in the NCAA regional final. The state stepped up and made the 'dream' game happen. The difference here is that you had two national title contenders in the same state that weren't playing one another and two of the most financially successful programs in the sport. Translate that to the gridiron and it's akin to Miami and Florida State refusing to play one another without good reason. This is the only situation where the state has used pressure with just cause 30 years ago.


Back to MU/WVU, note that the Thundering Herd athletic program is in the red most every year. It uses state money to function and by forcing this game it is actually extorting money from the program that West Virginia has built. I think its BS really. Either you pull yourself up by the bootstraps and do what needs to be done to compete at this level or you take a step back and look at your place in the world, how you're spending public funds and take your ego out of it and do the responsible thing.

It's interesting to see some of the responses to this question.

WVU gains nothing from this game but a 5-2 home advantage and a cheap (190k) payout for a walk-over. We pay EWU 540k. Going to play at the joan (seating 35,000) twice , WVU is losing out on 2 home games...big money loss there.

I expect a 65-6 blow-out this fall...it will get plain ugly next season.

Two games ago vs moou, WVU won 81-0....it was 1923.

PusherT Wrote:I mean really the only team this series helps is the Green Herd and it hurts WVU on 3 different poiints

1. Playing at Marshall small stadium loses WVU extra $$. The games should all be played at Morgentown simply because the bigger stadium.
2. WVU could have set up matchups with Pac 10,Big 12,SEC,ACC teams intead of playing Marshall

3. God forbid the unthinkable happens, WVU would really be upset then :shhh:

U cry because u have to pay people to play at wvu.. . then u cry because u have to play somewhere else... then u cry because u might get upset... boy u must use tons of hankies..

this is WV state politics at its best....marshall gets a couple of guranteed sellouts (something I don't think it has ever down since they expanded the staduim)...and gets a % of the gate from the games in Morgantown...Increased revenue for Marshall means less money the state of WV has to pay to keep them in the black....The only loser in this process is WVU..whose sports programs do not recieve state funds or even a tutian waiver for that matter

-- WVU is stuck in the deal at least untill the end of the Manchin administration...but odds are Gov Joe will get a second term...he has a political machine around the state that would make the Kennedy's jealous


Jackson

Jackson1011 Wrote:this is WV state politics at its best....marshall gets a couple of guranteed sellouts (something I don't think it has ever down since they expanded the staduim)...and gets a % of the gate from the games in Morgantown...Increased revenue for Marshall means less money the state of WV has to pay to keep them in the black....The only loser in this process is WVU..whose sports programs do not recieve state funds or even a tutian waiver for that matter

-- WVU is stuck in the deal at least untill the end of the Manchin administration...but odds are Gov Joe will get a second term...he has a political machine around the state that would make the Kennedy's jealous


Jackson

Overall, it's good for the State of West Virginia.

I agree with 3601. The true winner of this game is the state of W. Virginia. It is the opportunity to showcase the state from one side to the other and the in between. This could help with tourism business for the state It seems to me, that with all the tragedies the state has endured that this is a good thing. It also shows that the state of wvu is a fb(first) state, which is always a good perception to have. The fact that both schools have some tradition and success in fb only support my theory about fb first. I wil never understand why state schools dont want to play other schools in their state. It seems right that if you get money from the state, then you have an obligation to that state to help in anyway you can.

I would normally agree that it's a great idea. But, wasn't there a previous series? And didn't Marshall pull out before completing the contract?

It seems Marshall just wants the game only on their terms and they've pulled in some political muscle to make it happen. If they were serious about developing a rivalry, they could have completed the previous contract. The way it's turned out, they called in some chips to get a better deal for themselves. That makes them whiners if nothing else.

Quote:It seems right that if you get money from the state, then you have an obligation to that state to help in anyway you can.

-- The WVU football program doesn't get a cent from the state of WV...the staduim, the indoor facilitys, the weight room were all built with private funds....and like I said above...the state doesn't give us a tutation waiver..so all the scholis have to be paid for by other means (mostly alums and friends of the program)....Its not like were Penn St or Uconn and have the state gov't paying some of the bills

Quote:I would normally agree that it's a great idea. But, wasn't there a previous series? And didn't Marshall pull out before completing the contract?

-- Yep....actually WVU dropped a football series with Louisville to play marshall...and after the first game MU dropped the remaining games and left the Mountaineers scrambling just to fill their schedule



Jackson

WVU82 Wrote:It's interesting to see some of the responses to this question.

WVU gains nothing from this game but a 5-2 home advantage and a cheap (190k) payout for a walk-over. We pay EWU 540k. Going to play at the joan (seating 35,000) twice , WVU is losing out on 2 home games...big money loss there.

WVU gains nothing from this game except:

1. FIVE sold-out non-conf HOME GAMES
2. Probable National TV for this non-conf game to help showcase WVU
3. Increased profit for WVU because of the cheap payout to Marshall

Gee...those look like HUGE advantages to me...or...WVU could play teams like Buffalo, Eastern Washington, James Madison, Chattanooga, etc..which wouldn't give you any of the above.

With FIVE non-conf games to fill EVERY YEAR.....just using one of those games on Marshall...sure seems to be a nice "gain" to me.

KL

CardinalZen Wrote:I would normally agree that it's a great idea. But, wasn't there a previous series? And didn't Marshall pull out before completing the contract?

It seems Marshall just wants the game only on their terms and they've pulled in some political muscle to make it happen. If they were serious about developing a rivalry, they could have completed the previous contract. The way it's turned out, they called in some chips to get a better deal for themselves. That makes them whiners if nothing else.

FYI....Since 1923...Marshall/WVU have only played one other time.

In 1997...Marshall, just entering Div I-A Football (again)...played WVU on opening weekend...and WVU won, 42-31.

Knightlight...if the WVU administration came out and said we want to play marshall and we think it is in our best finanical interest to play Marshall then I and many WVU fans would not say a word and look forward to the games....however...the only person who thought that it would be a good idea from the WVU perspective was the Gov.....many WVU officials have come out and said the deal is basically not in our best financial interests...I'll take them at their word


-- As for increased attendance.....wouldn't suprise me if WVU sold out every game this yr....and last yr our attendance was around 55k for staduuim that holds 60k.....MUs benfit to WVU in this area is marginal at best....However marshall will get its first sellout in football thanks to WVU

Jackson

Jackson,

I have been a Mountaineer fan my whole natural life. I grew up in Huntington, however; my family was originally from St. Marys. My grandfather, father and an uncle went to school at WVU.

I don't understand the reluctance to play Marshall. Is it purely financial? I think it is only good for the State that this game is played. The energy generated from the build up can't be a bad thing. It is better than seeing WVU play the likes of Ball State, Akron and Kent.

As a WVU fan, I may be a different sort when it comes to Marshall , but I have great deal of respect for the program that has been built in Huntington.

Remember there was a period of time, prior to the 1980s, when Mountaineer football fell off the college football radar screen.